


Coming Home

by heylookieabookie



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adoption, F/M, Fluff, High School, Millionaire, Oneshot, Panic Attacks, Requited Love, Roman names, Romance, Unrequited Love, a cat named tiger, just a mention of a panic attack, really sweet, theres no trigger, wealthy family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 12:50:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18135968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heylookieabookie/pseuds/heylookieabookie
Summary: Natalie has been in foster care ever since she was a young girl before she finally gets adopted. This is a story of a girl who gets adopted, befriends new people, and finally finds her home.And maybe her one true love?





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fic posted on this site so please tell me what you think!! Thank you for choosing this emotional rollercoaster!

"Natalie? You okay?" Ryan asked me as he unlocked the front door. 

I smiled at him and walked through the front door. "I'm great. No worries." 

"Alrighty then." He opened the door and dropped my bags by the wall closest to the door. I looked at his apartment and it was really beautiful. The furniture was cleaned and looked antique and the whole color scheme was classy. 

"I like your apartment." I said with a small smile. I looked around and saw a small kitten in the hallway. "You have a kitten!?"

Ryan smiled at me. "Well she's your kitten now." 

"Really!?" I said excitedly. I've never had a pet that I could call my own. Even the fish I had at the orphanage wasn't completely mine; I shared it with Ava. I picked up the kitten and nuzzled my nose into its neck. 

Ryan smiled at me but his smile didn't quite meet his eyes. "Thank you for everything Ryan." 

"You deserve the world Natalie. I'm just so glad I found you." 

I smiled brightly at him. "I'm glad you found me too." I pet my new kitten on her head. "I'm going to name you Tiger." 

I heard Ryan bark out a laugh as he walked into the kitchen. "What a ferocious name for a ferocious kitten." 

I giggled. "You're such a cute kitten! I can't stand it!" 

"Hey, is it okay if my brother comes 'round with his family for dinner?" Ryan peered out around the corner. 

"Y-yeah sure." I nodded. "How many kids does he have?" I was expecting two or three or maybe even four but I was wrong. 

"Just one. Remus is his name." 

"Remus Tollen?" I asked causing Ryan to laugh. 

"Yeah, that's my name after all and maybe yours if you want. He probably goes to your school right?" 

"Yeah." I smiled weakly.

"Well hopefully you two will become friends then." Ryan gave me a charming smile. 

***

Ryan's eldest brother Ralph came over with his wife and son for dinner later that night. Ralph and his wife were in their mid thirties, making the two five or so years older than Ryan. Their son, Remus was one year older than me, making him seventeen. Remus and I attended the same high school but I've never had a conversation with him until tonight. 

"So Natalie, how are you adjusting to the millionaire life."

"Ralph, I'm not a millionaire." Ryan rolled his eyes. "I'm a high school teacher."

"Yeah, a high school teacher who also owns only the largest marketing firm in the world." Remus murmured under his breath with a smirk.

"Wait." I heard my fork clatter on the plate as I dropped it. "You own Clearview Marketing?"

Ralph bursted out laughing and elbowed his wife. "You didn't tell her? Rey, can you believe this?" 

Reyna, his wife, just smiled and shook her head. Remus slowly smiled and turned his head to meet my eyes. "I bet that's a nice surprise, eh Nat?" 

"Yeah." I said as my face turned red but as I spoke, my voice was all croaky and disgusting. "Excuse me." 

"So tell us about yourself Natalie." Reyna smiled at me. 

"Ummm well, I'm sixteen. I go to the same school as Remus, although you probably didn't know I existed until today cause I'm a sophomore." I smiled weakly. "You know, the high school is huge right off the bat. Um, I've been an orphan since I was seven and um I like cats." 

"Well now you're the daughter of a millionaire." Ralph chuckled. "But seriously, I love cats too but I'm super allergic." 

I looked at Ryan alarmed. "Why did you get me a cat then? If your brother is allergic." 

"Ralph can suck it up." Ryan smirked. "And Tiger is hypo-allergenic." 

"Oh." I said quietly. "That's cool." 

The five of us finished our dinner and I asked to excuse myself to go to my room. Ryan nodded a little somberly and I swiftly entered the room I set up hours ago to be mine. I sat on my bed and looked at my socks. They had little ducks on them and I remembered that Ava gave me them for my birthday last month. I remembered the party the orphanage threw for me but now that I think about it, Ryan probably funded the party. After all, he was in attendance. I heard the door be pushed open and I was shocked to see Remus standing there. 

"Hey Nat, you okay?" He asked. 

"Hey, yeah I'm just overwhelmed. Is Ryan upset?" 

"Not really." He said. "I mean he was but I told him you get easily overwhelmed so he understands now." 

"Thanks." I looked back at my socks. "I didn't know you knew me that well."

"You're in my art class, and my study hall, and my gym, and my business class." 

I didn't bother to correct him on his grammar. "Yeah, but those classes are so big." 

Remus sighed and sat on the bed next to me. "I was also friends with Ava." 

"What?" I said, the room started to blur a little so I laid down on my bed. "But, how do you know Ava? She's two years older than you." 

"You're having a panic attack Nat." Remus ignored what I said. "You're hyperventilating." 

"N-No I'm not." The ceiling started to swirl. "I'm fine Rem." 

I heard a faint scoff. "Nat, just breathe in and out." 

"I'm not a child. I know what to do." I whispered. 

"I know." He whispered back, rubbing my back to soothe me.

I pulled back a little with my eyes closed. "I think I'm okay." I said, my voice still hushed. 

"Good." He rubbed my shoulders. "You're a strong girl Nat. A strong, beautiful girl." 

"Thank you." I smiled. 

"What was the trigger?" Remus asked me after a moment of silence. "Just uh... So I know." 

"Umm." I rubbed behind my ear. "Just all of this information. Ryan being wealthy, you knowing Ava. It's a lot to process." 

"Ah, okay." He smiled. "I mean I would've figured you knew Ava and I were close." 

"Um, yeah, I just block out stuff sometimes." I said lamely. "My therapist said it's something to do with blocking the bad memories out or the memories that are particularly bad." 

"Like the accident?" Remus said quietly. 

I nodded and hugged my knees. "I honestly don't remember anything about them. Sometimes I think I have short term memory." 

"Hey, that's perfectly fine Nat. Don't dwell on it, the brain is a mysterious organ. Now, shall we go back out to our parents." He offered me his hand. I took it and smiled. "We shall." I said and together, we walked out of my room. 

"Oh, and Nat?" Remus said with his trademark smirk. "Ava told me about your little crush on me." 

"Oh goodness." I muttered as my face grew flush. Remus cackled as we bounced down the hallway back towards the dining room. 

I think I'm going to like it here.

***

"Squeeeeeeeee!" 

"Avalon, quiet." I rolled my eyes, pulling the phone away from my ear. "Seriously, how does Quinn deal with you?" 

"Quentin is the sweetest. He loves to deal with all my crap. So tell me more about Ryan Tollen." 

"Ava, it's really not a shocker. We all knew he was going to adopt me." I closed my locker and threw my backpack over my shoulder. "I'm heading to first period now. I'll talk to you later College Girl." 

"No doubt High School Girl!" Ava cheered. 

I slipped my flip phone into my front jean pocket and walked towards my first period class, World History. I entered the room and sat in my usual seat, pulling out my notebook and pencils. 

"Natalia! So happy to see you!" 

I looked up and smiled. "Hey Ashton." She sat in the desk next to me and smiled back at me. "What's up?" 

"Oh nothing you know the usual. I worked, I bought new shoes, Garrett promposed, I walked–"

"Garrett asked you to prom?!" I said surprised. "It's about time!" 

"Right!" Ashton nodded vigorously. "He showed up at during my shift with flowers and a poster and the whole shabang!"

"That's great Ash! I'm so happy for you." I smiled brightly at her. Garrett and Ashton have been talking to each other since last year. Last year, me and Ashton were almost positive he was going to ask her but he never did and ended up going with Valerie Kimple. 

Ashton and I hate Valerie Kimple. 

As we chatted, students kept pouring in and sitting in the empty desks. Just before the bell rang indicating the start of homeroom, a loud bang came from the hallway. We all sprinted to look at the door and we saw the scene unfold. 

Remus was thrown against the lockers by Octavian Brightwall. "Don't you dare touch me again." 

"I do what I please, Octavian." Remus spit back as he wiped his mouth and charged towards Octavian. His fist collided with Octavian's face, causing a sickly crack to spring from the impact. 

Octavian howled in pain and clutched his jaw. "Stupid rich boy." He turned away from Remus and immediately locked eyes with me. 

"Well lookie who it is." Octavian smirked disgustingly at me. "The new Tollen. The one who started this all!" 

"Umm." I blinked and backed away. "Okay, I'm just going to—"

I stumbled as I made a break for it. I lost my footing as I turned the corner and fell flat on my face. I heard everyone snicker as I got up and continued my journey away from the scene. I decided to go to the library and sit at a table in the way back. I heard the tardy bell ring but I didn't want to leave my seat. I pulled out one of the novels I carry with me and started to read. I read about five chapters until I was rudely interrupted by someone calling my name. I looked up to see Ryan with a glum expression on.

"Natalie." He said as he sat down across from me. "What happened?" 

"I-I-" I took a deep breath. "Oct-avian was hurting Remus so I went to see what was going on and when Octavian saw me he started sneering at me so I decided to run away from the scene but then I slipped and fell and everyone was laughing at me so I came here." 

Ryan smiled sadly and grabbed my hand. "Are you okay Natalie. Do you want to go home?" 

"R-really!?" I perked up. "Y-you'd let me go home?" 

"Yeah." Ryan said. "Your brain is like your body, if it's not feeling well you need to rest it." 

I smiled at him. "Thank you." 

He smiled back. "Anything for you." 

***

I've been home now for two hours. Half of a school day. Remus must have texted Ava because she's been texting me nonstop making sure I'm okay. I was currently sitting on the sofa with Tiger curled up next to me, flipping through the channels, finding something to watch. I was still channel surfing when the intercom went off. I jumped up from the sofa and answered the intercom. 

"Yes?" I said, holding down the button. 

"Nat! It's Remy, I brought you some lunch." 

I sighed as I pressed the button to let him in. I heard him bounce up the stairs and knock on the front door. I proceeded to open it and was instantly greeted with Remus's smile.

"Hey Nat! I got you soup." 

"Thanks." I said as I took the bag from his hand and walked into the kitchen. "I'm surprised you're still in school, you're pretty cut up." 

"Eh, I'm fine. The real question is how are you?" He sat down at the breakfast bar and twirled his seat. 

"I'm okay." I picked up Tiger and nuzzles her against my cheek. "I'm just overwhelmed. I mean I caused you to get beat up." 

"I didn't get beat up Nat, it was just a little tussle, that's it. But yes, you were the topic of the fight." He spun in his chair again. "Octavian was making fun you said, said that the reason why my uncle adopted you was because you begged him, wanting to be as closer as you could to me." 

I set Tiger down and sat at the kitchen island on a stool. I took out the soup and started to eat it, completely ignoring Remus. 

"Nat, I know that's not true." He said. "Nat, don't worry about it." 

"Remy." I said. "You should've knocked him unconscious." 

"Nat, c'mon." He smiled. "We all know runners aren't built like football players. Plus I'm pretty sure I broke his jaw."

I slowly smiled and even let out alittle laugh. "You said it not me." 

He winked at me and looked at the clock. "Well I better head back. I'll see if I can come over after practice today." 

"You don't have to." I said. 

"You're family now Nat, we need that bonding time we missed out on." 

I giggled and nodded. "You win this time Remus." 

***

"Natty-O, let's go!" Remus called up down the hallway. 

"Cool your caboose Remy." I said as I walked out of my room. 

It's been a few months now since Ryan has adopted me and Remus and I have grown extremely close. I've also got a handle on my anxiety disorder by meeting with my therapist more often and hanging out with a lot of Remus's friends for social exposure. I really think I've made progress and even Remus agrees. I'd like to say my crush on Remus has dissipated but it indeed hasn't. He's just such a sweet guy and he's really adorable and—

Anyways, it's currently Memorial Day and there was a huge Tollen family reunion down by the nearby Lake Arrowhead, also known as National Introduce Natalie Day. 

Remus took my bag from my arm and threw it over his shoulder. "My dad said I could bring a friend so you'll know more people at the reunion so I decided to ask—"

"Nope! Uninvite him Remy." I said, shaking my head 

"Felix." He finished his sentence. "I would have asked Ava and Quinn but they're studying abroad this semester." 

I sighed. "I know, I know. I just don't want to see Felix. I'm assuming we're picking him up?"

"Yup!" Remus smiled at me. "And you're sitting in the back with him." 

"What? No, that's too far Rem." I rolled my eyes. 

"Fine, fine." Remus still had his smile across his face. "You're so funny Nat." 

I huffed all the way to Remus's car and sat in the passenger seat. I plugged my new iPhone into the aux cord and instantly my music started playing. Remus scoffed at my music taste and started his way to Felix's house. Once the second song played, Remus couldn't hold back anymore and started belting out Closer with me. I broke down laughing at the emotion he was putting into the lyrics.

We pulled up to Felix's house and Remus slammed on the horn. I hit his arm scoffing and saw Felix run out of his house. He jumped into the backseat hyper as can be. 

"Hey Natty! Hey Remy!" He greeted. "I'm ready for the reunion!"

"Hey dude!" Remus gave Felix some weird high five/handshake thing. 

"Hey Lix." I smiled at him and fiddled with my phone. "Ready to be an honorary Tollen?" 

"Ready as ever Natty." He smiled back. Remus nudged me and I swat him away. 

I changed the song and looked out the window. It's been a few weeks since Felix O'Malley asked me to prom in front of the whole student body. 

You can guess how that went... now don't get me wrong, I like Felix. He's polite and a great guy to talk to plus him and Remus became my closest friends lately. But asking me to prom in front of the whole school? No thank you. 

"So Nat, when we get there my, well I guess our, grandparents are going to greet us and probably some of our cousins." Remus said, breaking me out of my trance. "They already know Felix so you'll be in the spotlight." 

A laugh escaped me. "I already knew I was going to be the center of attention. I've been psyching myself up since I heard about this reunion." 

"Okay good." He sighed. 

"Hey Natty, don't worry." Felix kicked my seat. "You got me today, your knight in shining armor. That's why you should go to prom with me." 

"Oh goodness, I knew this was going to happen." I sighed and shook my head. "Lix, you know I get easily overwhelmed yet you did it anyways." 

"Nat, I know." Felix sighed. "I just– I just wanted you to know it was genuine. That I wasn't ashamed to ask you out, not like I'd ever be ashamed of you."

I stayed silent for awhile before answering him quietly. "That's a very valid point Felix. I just wish it wasn't during your soccer game." 

"So if I asked you, perhaps, in the hallway then..." I saw him smile in the rear view mirror. 

"Maybe." I said, looking over at Remus who was trying not to laugh at us. "What're you laughing at?" 

Laughter bursted out of Remus. "It's just, you guys, you act like lovesick puppies." 

I scolded and looked out of the window. If only he knew that I was also smitten with him. "Are we almost there?"

"Almost Natty Nat." He chuckled. 

***

"Remus! Oh it's so great to see you." An elderly woman embraced my cousin before giving him a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "And you're Natalie right? Ryan's daughter." 

"Yes, hello." I said, shyly sticking out my hand. "It's nice to meet you." 

"Nonsense dear!" She brushed my hand anyway and hugged me. "I'm Victoria Tollen, your father's aunt. Oh! Where is my sister?" Victoria scurried away causing me to look at Remus who shrugged. 

"Let's go by the picnic pagoda." He grabbed my hand. "I think I see my parents." 

I looked at Felix who looked away from me and rolled his eyes at the grass, following us reluctantly. Remus guided me to the pagoda and even after we arrived, he held my hand tight. We walked up to his parents and said hello. 

"Hey Natalie." Ralph smiled at me. "Felix, nice to see you, my dude." 

Felix smiled. "It's nice to see you too Mr. Tollen." 

"Hey I thought I saw Evelyn around here somewhere." Ralph smirked and nudged Felix. "Is that why you came?" 

Felix scowled and rolled his eyes. "I came because of Natalie." 

"Who's Evelyn?" I asked, confused.

"Ev is our cousin." Remus said. "Two years ago Felix had a errrm thing with her. She lives a few towns over in Sarcton." 

"She's a bitch." Felix murmured before looking at me. "Oh my gosh, no Nat! Not like that, last time I came she made a snarky remark so I pushed her in the swampy part of the lake." 

"She called Lix gay." Remus smirked. 

"And I'm not gay. Obviously, I mean, for how long have I been chasing after you?" 

"Ummm. Okay. Hey, do they have drinks? I think I'm going to get a drink." I hastily walked away from them. It's so overwhelming being around them like gosh, I can't take it sometimes. My stupid heart liking two guys at the same time. Why can't I just like one of them? I saw a fold up table set up with drink dispensers and cups along with cans of soda and iced tea. I grabbed myself a can of Pepsi and as I turned around, I smacked someone in the face with my can. 

"Oww." He rubbed his chin where my can collided with his face. "You've got quite an arm." 

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Felix." I said, looking at the grass. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?" 

"Nah, I'm okay tha-" 

"Oh wow O'Malley, you brought your girlfriend to a family reunion that isn't even your family?" A rude older voice cut him off. 

"Well hello Ronan. Nice to see you." Felix sneered. "How's your Tarheels? Oh that's right, they lost this year." 

"I can't believe the audacity you have, coming here after you disrespected my sister two years ago, with a girl nonetheless." Ronan sneered back. "Felix sure knows how to pick his friends. So who are you?" He jabbed his finger in my face. 

I swallowed hard. "I'm actually your cousin. Ryan, your uncle, adopted me almost a year ago. And the audacity you have disrespecting your own family member." 

"Oh! Oh!" Ronan started to cackle. "Rich Ryan adopted you! What a surprise! You've got rich taste mhm? First Ryan and now Felix." 

"Leave me and my boyfriend alone you lowlife." I glared. "Get over yourself, you should've went to URI, ya know since they actually won this year." I grabbed Felix's hand and stomped away from Ronan, hitting him roughly with my shoulder as I passed him. 

"Nat, look–" Felix tried to say as I cut him off. 

"Just shut up Felix, I'm so emotionally drained right now that I'll probably shoulder check you as well." I grumbled. "You shouldn't have followed me. I just wanted to be away from you and Remy, I wanted some space." 

Felix didn't say anything but neither of us let go of each other's hand. He even dared to interlock our fingers, his sneaky little weasel fingers. I didn't know where I was walking anymore, I was just letting Felix decide where to go, which turn to take. We ended up by some rock fixture over hanging the lake. He pulled me onto the rock and sat by the edge, pulling me to sit down next to him. I didn't notice until I sat down that four little kids were sitting on the lower ledge of the rock directly below us. They had a deck of cards and were playing some made up game. 

"Toria, I need another card." One boy said, making grabby hands at the only girl in the group. She gave him the card and he quietly sorted his cards. 

"That's Victoria, Aiden, Sylvester and Ezra." Felix said softly. "They're also your cousins, I think. Yeah, Ezra is your cousin." He said more to himself.

"How do you know so much about the Tollen family? Because of Remy?" I asked, looking at him. 

"Well, it's a long story." He said simply. "But I suppose you can think that." 

I rolled my eyes. "I don't know much about you Lix. But I'd like to, heck you're my best friend." 

He smiled at me. "Besides Remy and Ashton and Ava." 

"I'd like to think you're number two on my list, below Ava, of course." 

He laughed and kissed the back of my hand. "That's quite a shocker since you're head over heels for Remy." 

I looked out at the lake. "I'm not head over heels for him. He's my cousin." 

"Only by adoption. You're not blood related, you two could technically date each other." Felix said truthfully. "I know you only like me because you can't have Remy." 

"Felix, c'mon that's not true." I said, starting to get annoyed. "I don't know who I like, it's overwhelming and seeing the way you reacted when Remy pulled me over to the pagoda hurt me. It really did and Felix I don't want to hurt you." 

"You said no because of Remy, right?" Felix asked hesitantly. 

"False." I said. "I told you, I was overwhelmed." 

"Okay." He said. "It doesn't matter anyway, it's not like I could actually date you and not get hurt. Can I tell you a story?" 

"Sure." I said skeptically. "I'd like to know more about you." 

"It might change your perception of me though." 

"Lix, I don't care. Just say it." 

Felix cleared his throat. "Okay, so my mother was really young when she had me and my father abandoned her in fear of having a child. My mom is great, she raised me as a single mother, working thirty plus hours a week. Life was hard when I was little, I know that much. But when I was ten, my mom met this guy, Reese. Reese was like my father, he was great, and so he and my mother got married a few years later when I was fourteen and that's when things started to go wrong. Now Reese, Reese is a Tollen and when they got married, backlash broke out." 

I gasped. 

"Ronan and Evelyn's father did not approve of the relationship and they really did not like me. 'We don't need an Irish in the family, that taints the Tollen's strong German roots!' was what he would say and that's when I met Remy, as his uncle berated me and my mother. So Reese filed for divorce after two years of marriage because he couldn't stand to see the depression my mother and I were in and with the divorce, he gave us a settlement of 1.2 million dollars." 

It was silent for a minute. 

"So that's why Ronan said you were rich." I stated. "Because of Reese." 

"Yes." He said, loud enough for the kids to hear us. I saw them look up at us and instantly their eyes grew. 

"Felix! Felix!" Ezra came running up the stone steps from the lower platform. "What're you doing here?" 

"I came here for my friend, Natalie." Felix smiled. "She's your new cousin too." 

"Hi Natalie!" Ezra hugged me. "I'm Ezra O'Malley Tollen. Are you Felix's girlfriend?" 

I blushed. "I'm sure he'd like to think so." 

"Felix! Mom said she'll make some cookies next week when I come over!" Ezra's brain had so many things on his mind he just jumped topics like a kangaroo. 

I watched Felix and Ezra interact for awhile without saying anything. Felix knew he didn't have to explain anything to me, it was pretty apparent. Felix's mom and Reese clearly did the deed and Ezra appeared. I just can't believe Felix had a shot at being happy and my stupid uncle had to ruin it all. 

"Hey Natty, you okay? You look upset." Felix nudged me. When I looked at him, I saw realization wash over him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just zoned out." I said, blinking myself back to reality. 

"Don't worry about me." He said, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Everyone thinks that Ezra is Reese and Violet's child. Violet is who Reese is dating now by the way. Her and Ezra both have black hair and brown eyes. But I'm glad, because I don't want Felix going through what I went through." 

"But his middle name is O'Malley." I said, puzzled. 

Felix cracked a smile at me. "It's Allen on the birth certificate, Ezra just likes to be a little shit." 

A laugh bubbled out of me. "So who are Victoria, Aiden and Sylvester?" 

"Toria is your Aunt Daria's daughter. Daria is the only Tollen daughter. And Aiden and Sylvester are your second cousins. They're Ryan's cousin's kids." 

I looked at the lake ripple in my wind. "This family is pretty big." 

Felix looked at me before leaning closer. "It's only going to get bigger when we get married and have kids." 

I shoved Felix away from me, laughing. "You're a pain, golly gee. Do you ever give up? You just told me this elaborate story about you not being welcomed into the Tollen family and now you're saying–"

"I'd never give you up Natalie Tollen." He looked at me sincerely because cracking a smile. "Never gonna let you down, never gonna turn around and desert you." 

"Get over yourself Felix O'Malley." I said, before planting my lips square to his. 

I might not have gotten a Remus, but I definitely got a Felix.


End file.
